Panama Trade Deal Approved By Congress

WASHINGTON -- Congress voted to approve a free trade agreement with Panama, a country of less than 4 million that still carries economic weight because of the Panama Canal.

The vote on Panama came after Congress approved a similar free trade agreement with Colombia and before a vote on a South Korea trade pact.

The United States last year exported $6 billion worth of goods to Panama and has minimal imports from that country. But the trade deal will make it easier for U.S. companies to compete for contracts in Panama's $5.25 billion expansion of the canal.

The agreement also strengthens banking transparency in Panama, which has been known as a tax haven.

As HuffPost's Zach Carter reported, Panama has "some of the most stringent bank secrecy laws in the world, making it extremely easy and inexpensive for U.S. citizens to set up offshore corporations and bank accounts. Establishing the corporation and bank account costs less than $2,000, and any money that Americans stash in these entities is not taxed.

Bank secrecy laws and extremely lax corporate registration standards make it very difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to track transactions transferring funds to these Panamanian destinations from the United States. Small surprise, then, that Panama is home to nearly 400,000 offshore corporations, more than any other nation except Hong Kong."

Watch Carter discuss the deal on MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show:

Comments

[Sencbull]

12:06 AM on 10/13/2011

If you want to truly see who benefited from this, you only have to look at the organizations that lobbied for it. It has nothing to do with benefiting the average Joe.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

12:09 AM on 10/13/2011

How did it harm the average Joe?

[Sencbull]

12:47 AM on 10/13/2011

Fills the coffers of US corporations who will hire local nationals to do most of their bidding. Well connected American deal makers with friends and business connections in that area of the world, who are always willing to spend other people's money, will sell their ideas and matchmaking capabilities to other well connected US citizens, who will invest funds in creating businesses located in Panama and Columbia. The average Joe in the US gets nothing out of the deal. Our government works for the wealthy.

[undertheinfluence]

11:49 PM on 10/12/2011

These trade deals are the final nail in the coffin of the American Iron Worker, and the American Laborer's unions.

The real reason behind the republicans hardline stance against infrastructure projects, is because they don't yet have the changes in the standards for products used in America for such projects.

Currently, steel products used in bridges and highways have to meet the rigourous standards of the US Code. The republicans want to relax these standards in order to use FORIEGN steel products on US infrastucture projects. From guess where?
South Korea.

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/10/06/n_bsg_steel_hyundai.cnnmoney

Does anybody really think Corporate America cares about the American worker? They don't. And niether do the republicans. They want to be i control of the governemnt so they can give the contracts for products to be used in repairing our infrastructure to their frinds using no bid contracts, just like Bush did with supplies used in the wars.

WAKE UP AMERICA..WE CONTINUE TO GET SCREWED.

[hdvh56]

11:45 PM on 10/12/2011

This country is done.Stick a fork in it.

[Christine Casabar]

11:40 PM on 10/12/2011

Upside, maybe we'll recapture some tax $$.

[muysuave41]

11:39 PM on 10/12/2011

Congress should stop complaining about lost revenue due to overseas tax havens and offshoring of jobs. They set up these trade agreements that favor big business and then turn around and complain about their after effects.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

12:10 AM on 10/13/2011

What big business benefited from this?

[Christine Casabar]

11:38 PM on 10/12/2011

This one I think is all about the war on drugs/guns and money laundering. Panama must be the banking choice for gansters. The jobs point is an aftermath.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

11:26 PM on 10/12/2011

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[mauibob]

11:21 PM on 10/12/2011

I think any democrat that supported these agreements should be tossed out of office. Then we can replace them with a conservative.

[skraeling]

11:21 PM on 10/12/2011

More US jobs to be shipped overseas and the bankers get richer....hope and change...u betcha!

[WhereIsTheTruth]

12:12 AM on 10/13/2011

Which jobs? The article states that exports from Panama to the U.S. are low. The largest driver of the economy in Panama is the canal, followed by banking because of its secrecy. We do not have people here capable of teleporting ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice-versa, nor do we have a banking system similar to that which made Panama a banking haven. All that said, which U.S. jobs are being shipped overseas?

[skraeling]

05:49 PM on 10/13/2011

pay attention, it is not just Panama....goods will be shipped through there from Columbia...forced labor...low epa....

[foxisms]

11:20 PM on 10/12/2011

Neocolonialism.
Pan-America.
Pan-Europe.
Pan-Asia.
Pan-Africa
Pan--Nationalism
Make of it what you will.

[p pitstop]

11:13 PM on 10/12/2011

Some Panamanian bankers are about to get very rich.

[wsdave]

11:19 PM on 10/12/2011

They already were, and this won't make much difference to them. Panama has been an off-shore money destination for decades.

[p pitstop]

01:49 PM on 10/13/2011

According to this, it will be far worse...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/panama-colombia-korea-oba_b_999232.html

[p pitstop]

11:12 PM on 10/12/2011

It's as if Pres. Obama is doing things to sabotage his own chances of being re-elected - along with every single Democrat who voted for it. I mean, there is absolutely no excuse for this B.S. It's hypocritcal to say the least. It's just another wink and nod to corporations, and it goes against everything he claims to want to accomplish with his jobs bill.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

11:53 PM on 10/12/2011

What do you find distasteful? That we export more to them than we import? That it will improve our position in competing in the canal expansion? That the law will make banking in Panama more transparent to, hopefully, reduce Panamanian banks' use as tax shields?

[p pitstop]

01:46 PM on 10/13/2011

You obviously haven't read the details about these new unfair trade agreements.

[p pitstop]

01:48 PM on 10/13/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/panama-colombia-korea-oba_b_999232.html

[Farzan]

11:03 PM on 10/12/2011

You want bipartisanship? You only get it when its time to ship jobs out.

[Michael Dadtka]

10:58 PM on 10/12/2011

NAFTA and these agreements are what is killing America. They must be rescinded.

[skraeling]

11:22 PM on 10/12/2011

too late now....we are done...yet we are not revolting...apathy is now the norm.

[Labor Party]

10:58 PM on 10/12/2011

If I may make an observation.................what we really need is a comprehensive manufacturing policy.

Next we need to level the playing field for American workers by making sure China does not manipulate their currency and opens their markets. (even if we need to raise tariffs)

Florida has some special interest pork that temporarily benefits their state with this agreement.Over the longer term JOBS WILL CONTINUE TO BE LOST!

As you can see NEITHER PARTY is interested in putting the nation back to work.